The Icy Gamer
by ReadtheBooks
Summary: When Gray Fullbuster woke up with a blue floating boat above his head, he knew life was going to get complicated. Now he must navigate his new powers and try not to die, which turns out to be more difficult than planned, especially when disaster strikes.
1. Chapter 1

**The Icy Gamer**

 **Chapter 1:**

Gray Fullbuster woke with a start to a high pitch pinging sound. He opened his eyes... and stared. There was a blue floating box above his head with black letters in it. As the eight year old rubbed the sleep from his eyes, he read the sign;

 **HP and MP have been restored to 100%; you have slept in your own bed.**

HP? MP? What did that mean? Gray remembered his parents talking about magic, and he thought his dad used some sort of it, so maybe it was something like that?

His mum knocking at his door startled him out of his jumbled thoughts.

"Gray, I'm making breakfast in the kitchen, get dressed quickly and set the table ok?"

"Sure mum"

As Gray came downstairs, having kind of figured out how to make the glowing blue box disappear (he had flung his hands through it accidentally) another strange thing occurred, involving his mother. There were black words hovering above her head.

 **Mika Fullbuster**

 **Level 5**

…

From her unworried actions, Gray realized that she probably couldn't see the black words above her, and he certainly wasn't telling her, as he was afraid she would think he was crazy (though, in all honesty, he wasn't sure that he wasn't crazy either)

She turned to him, and smiled. "Good morning! After we finish breakfast, I thought we could go meet your father at the barracks, then do some grocery shopping and go to the library afterwards, ok?"

He nodded "Sounds good"

His dad was part of the Town Guard, which was kinda understaffed. The guard was responsible for protecting the town from wolves, bears or other dangerous beasts that wondered their snow- covered land. Silver Fullbuster was one of only two wizards in the town, which made him extremely valuable in the guard, and on call at all times of the year, unfortunately for his family.

Gray and his mum sat down, and the dark haired boy dug in. His mum's cooking was as good as it always was. After the meal, a loud ping suddenly rang in his ear, and he turned.

 **Skill Created!**

 **Table Manners - Level 1**

 **This ability effects people's opinion of you after they watch you eat, good or bad.**

 **Level 1- Right now, a dog would be better at eating nicely than you.**

Gray frowned, kind of insulted at the harsh words (he was only eight!), before realizing that this had never happened before. He had to find out what all of this meant, assuming this was real and he wasn't insane.

Ping!

 **Quest Alert!**

 **Find out about your new powers!**

 **Rewards-**

 **50 exp**

 **Failure-**

 **Loss of sanity**

 **Accept/Decline**

Gray's eyes widened as the quest appeared. He was just thinking that! But what did exp mean? Quickly checking to see if his mum was occupied (she was washing up) he clicked accept. While he might not understand what some of the terms meant, he did understand he needed to know more about this new… power.

Avoiding loss of sanity sounded good as well.

After going to the barracks and seeing his dad,

 **Silver Fullbuster**

 **Level- 16**

his mum dragged him to the grocery store, and he waited outside watching people go past (and their levels- Gray discovered most people in the village had a level between 2-7, depending on their age, which made him wonder about his own level) and eventually he had made a new skill;

 **Observe- Level 1**

 **By observing a target you will gain information**

 **Level 1- Name and Health**

Which he then put to good use, and ended up leveling it so it looked like:

 **Observe- Level 2**

 **By observing a target you will gain information**

 **Level 2- Name, Health, and Mana**

But, despite gaining a skill, Gray was still no closer to figuring out what these powers were and how they worked.

It was starting to frustrate him.

…

Scratch that. It really frustrated him. Gray wasn't exactly known as the most patient person in the world.

As his mum came out of the shops with bags on both arms, he darted over to her and took two. She gave the young boy a small smile " I'm sorry about making you wait outside in the snow, but you know how Jean is. Anyway, we have enough time for a short visit to the library, if you still want to go."

Gray grinned. The library was his favorite place in the village, not because of the books (though he liked reading well enough) but because of the librarian, Nina, who told the best stories, and also happened to be the other mage in the village. She was also his mother's best friend.

"Of course!"

The duo quickly reached the library, aware of the sun getting lower in the sky. They darted inside, brushing off the snow that had settled on them during the short walk. The interior was cosy and warm, and every surface seemed to be covered in books.

Gray's mum frowned, staring at the many books which seemed to be devoid of life "Nina? Gray and I are here to borrow some books, but if your to busy, it's fine-"

"Nonsense!" A small, middle aged woman cried, emerging from the back room and interrupting Mika. She smiled kindly at Gray, and he grinned back, noticing the black words hovering above her and the highest level he'd seen:

 **Nina Lester**

 **Level 18**

Ha. Gray had known she was strong, and used magic because of her stories, but to see proof…

Very cool.

"I will always have time for you guys, you're my closest friends- apart from my books!" Nina said cheerfully.

As Gray laughed, his mum carefully picked a way through the books to her friend, grumbling good naturally. Nina called out to him " Just go into the back room, a new order of books have arrived. Maybe you'll find something good in there."

Gray nodded in thanks, dashing through the piles of books as quickly as he could. Arriving in the back room, he walked over to the new boxes of books, pulling out a book called _Beginners guide to cooking._ He was about to put it down, when he noticed a golden shine coming off it. Curious, Gray opened the book

 **You have obtained the skill book Beginners Guide to Cooking!**

 **Learn Yes/No**

Not really knowing what else to do, the dark haired boy clicked yes and with a faint pinging sound, suddenly the knowledge of how to cook came into his head.

 **Congratulations! You have learned the skill Cooking!**

 **Cooking- Level 1**

 **This skill allows you to cook your own food using other ingredients.**

 **Level 1- You have a 5% chance of not messing up your dish. Meaning if you try to cook something for someone to eat, you'll most likely give them food poisoning.**

Gray scowled, insulted. He had cooked before. It wasn't 5 star, but it was good enough to not give anyone food poisoning! However, his ire was forgotten as his eyes widened when he realized exactly what had happened. Gray had learned the entire contents of the book with one click!

His eyes darted to the box of new books, and after a quick check to see if the adults were occupied, he got to work.

After looking at the box of new books (most of them, to gray's disappointment turned out to be normal books) and scouring the rest of the library, the eight year old had 5 books that had a golden shine on them, identifying themselves as skill books. One by one, not bothering to read the titles, as he had to sound the words out loud, he opened them, getting the following skills.

 **Meditation- Level 1**

 **This skill allows you to increase your MP.**

 **Level 1 – Every 2 hours your mana increases by 5 points.**

 **Gardening- Level 1e**

 **This skill allows you to plant and nurture your very own garden**

 **Level 1- You have a 10% chance of not killing everything you plant. Congratulations.**

 **Knife Wielding -Level 1**

 **This skill allows you to wield a knife. Techniques can be added.**

 **Level 1- You have a 5% chance of a critical hit. Have fun trying not to take an eye out.**

 **Pet grooming- Level 1**

 **This skill allows you to groom your own fuzzy friend.**

 **Level 1- You have a 5% chance of it looking ok. Subcategories for different animals can be added. Much pity on your pet.**

After doing getting four new, slightly random skills (Gray took note of the fact that MP seemed to mean mana) he picked up the last of the skill books, opening it

 **You can not learn this skill.**

 **20 wis is needed. Sucker.**

Gray frowned, startled. It hadn't said that in any of the other skill books. He turned the book over to see the cover. _Manual for Ice-Make magic._

Gray groaned. There were so many questions, and he didn't have any answers!

Putting the shiny golden book aside to borrow for later inspection (hopefully he could find out what wis meant) Gray looked around the room again, this time for book about… well whatever the blue boxes were.

After trying and failing to find answers to what was happening to him, Gray sighed, looking over at his mum and Nina who were still happily chatting about one thing or another. There was no chance he was getting a story about Nina's adventures today.

Glaring uselessly at the ground, Gray thought about the quest he'd taken…

And the failure option.

He couldn't give up!

Looking around at the book covered room to see if he could find anything useful to his plight, Gray saw a white slip of paper poking out of the bookshelf. Tugging it out of its place, Gray squinted at the cursive words on the front. The weren't familiar to him, but his mum (who homeschooled him) always told him to sound out words he didn't know.

"Sat-us. Stat- us. Status."

Before Gray could begin to sound out the next word, a blue box appeared with a ping.

 **Gray Fullbuster**

 **Level- 3 Exp 160/500**

 **Title- None**

 **Health- 150/150**

 **Mana - 100/100**

 **Str- 5**

 **Vit- 4**

 **Dex-3**

 **Int-7**

 **Wis-4**

 **Luc-2**

 **Points- 0**

 **Jewels-0**

 **Gray Fullbuster is the eight year old child of Mika and Silver Fullbuster. He lives in Isvan, a snow covered country, and wants to get stronger in anyway he can, so he can protect his family.**


	2. Chapter 2

**The Icy Gamer**

 **Chapter 2:**

Despite his initial excitement about the new box floating in front of him, it soon began to became clear to him that even after figuring out his level (3- he was kinda disappointed) some of his questions still weren't answered. Like what did str, vit, dex and all the other things mean?!

Sometimes it seemed like this thing liked to torture him.

Nonetheless, Gray turned his attention back to the hovering words, trying to decipher their meaning.

 **Gray Fullbuster**

 **Level- 3**

 **Exp 160/500**

 **Title- None**

 **Health- 150/150**

 **Mana - 100/100**

 **Str- 5**

 **Vit- 4**

 **Dex-3**

 **Int-7**

 **Wis-4**

 **Luc-2**

 **Points- 0**

 **Jewels-0**

 **Gray Fullbuster is the eight year old child of Mika and Silver Fullbuster. He lives in Isvan, a snow covered country, and wants to get stronger in anyway he can, so he can protect his family.**

Trying to look at the lump of information logically, Gray decided to start at the top.

 **Gray Fullbuster**

 **Level 3**

His name was quite simple, but it was the level that stood out to the dark haired boy.

3\. He was level 3.

Although Gray knew logically that because he was young his level made sense…. His pride was wrinkled. Just a bit. (A lot)

After scowling at his level for a few more seconds, Gray turned to the next piece of information.

 **Exp 160/500**

 **Title- None**

Exp… Gray still had no idea what that meant. The numbers next to it seemed to be some sort of counter for something. But beyond that? Not a clue. At this rate, he was never going to complete that quest.

However, just as Gray gave up and was about to look at the next line, a memory came to him. It was of his mother, when they first moved into their house. She was labelling all the kitchen draws so that they could find everything. Unfortunately, the labels she was using only had a certain amount of space, so she had to -what did she call it?

Abbreviate. When you shorten a word.

Gray looked at the short word with wide eyes. Exp! That would explain the weird word.

Temporarily abandoning the open status page, Gray opened a fat book retrieved from the corner of the room. The dictionary. Searching up words starting with Exp, he looked at the words that could fit.

Experts. Explain. Export.

But none of the words fit in with the ideas on the list. The young boy scanned the page in frustration before his eyes came to rest on another word, and he grinned in victory, almost tempted to give a shout of joy before thinking of the thin walls.

Experience. Practical contact with and observation of facts or events.

It fit, especially if he thought about reward for the quest he got.

Having discovered the meaning for Exp, Gray ignored the plan he had set for himself and looked at the other shortened words with a number attached to each.

Gotcha.

After painstakingly going through the dictionary (who knew there were so many words in the language?) Gray was 98% certain he had found what the shortened words were, and their meanings. He had written them on the back of the piece of paper that had status on it (he had read it, interested, before finding out it was just a Status Report on stock in the library).

These were the new words and what he thought their meanings were;

Exp = Experience (Because he remembered that they were reward was for the quest, Gray knew that the numbers meant something important, and he could get more of them, though he didn't know why they were important, and what they were there for.)160/500

Health (Self explanatory, it was about his how healthy he was. Gray suspected if he were to scrape his knee, the number would go down) 150/150

Mana (Gray had looked it up, it was basically another word for magic from a different country. So the numbers must be how much magic he had!) 100/100

Str = Strength (This effected how strong he was) 5

Vit = Vitality (This effected endurance, how long he could do something without getting tired) 4

Dex = Dexterity (This effected how precise he was, and how good he was at something)

Int = Intelligence (This effected how quickly he could learn stuff, and make himself stronger, as well as his memory. It was also his highest stat, as he had taken to call them.) 7

Wis = Wisdom (This was the hardest to find out, but in the end -after going through a lot of books- he thought it effected how quickly he could recover from magic depletion.) 4

Luc = Luck (This effected how, well, lucky he was.) 2

Points (Gray had to admit he had no idea what this meant, but he was hopeful that the answer would reveal itself) 0

Jewels (This was the easiest to work out. It related to how much money he had. And since he was broke…) 0

Gray looked at the long list, smiling cheerfully. Finally! Some answers.

Ping!

 **Quest Complete! (Close enough, anyway)**

 **Find out about your new powers!**

 **Rewards-**

 **50 Exp**

Gray looked at the notification he just got with wide eyes. That was it? He still hadn't figured out a bunch of stuff! However, as he looked at the place where he knew the exp was located he saw;

 **Exp 210/500**

So the reward did relate to the exp. But he still didn't know what the experience did.

Why was this so confusing?! It made his head hurt.

Before Gray could investigate further, his mum came into the room unaware of her son's frustration.

"Gray! I'm sorry we took so long, we lost track of time."

Nina laughed, agreeing , then addressed Gray "Do you want to borrow any books before you rush of?"

Gray blinked. He hadn't even realised how late it was! Though he was a bit startled at the sudden entrance of the adults, he nodded. He handed to Nina the two books he wanted to borrow. She stamped them slowly, raising an eyebrow sceptically at the weird choices, especially for an eight year old.

"Are you sure about these? The _Manual for Ice_ _Make_ is a bit mature, and even if you did have magic, you wouldn't be able to use it till your older. And why did you take the dictionary? It's not a very interesting read."

Gray shrugged, trying to look innocent. "The _Manual for Ice_ _Make_ looked cool, and it's not like I'm going to be able to use it."

(At least until he got 20 wis)

"And we don't have a dictionary at home, so I want to be able to look up words if I get stuck."

However, Nina hesitated to give him the books. The _Manual for Ice Make_ could be dangerous if Gray tried to learn before he was ready. She looked at her friend.

Mika nodded at her. "We don't have a dictionary, do we? Maybe we should buy one… It's good that your taking an interest in your education, Gray. As for the Manual… considering what your father can do, I think learning about Ice magic could be good for you."

Nina smiled, looking cheerful as ever. "Ok then! Here you go. I'm sorry I kidnaped your mum for so long, and I hope you read some good books apart from the dictionary."

Gray grinned at her. "Of course!"

His mum shook her head with a smile. "Alright, we really have to go now. Thank you for everything Nina."

"Don't mention it. And remember, if you need any help-

She looked straight at Gray with a serious expression on her face

I'm always here."

After they had gone home and had dinner, in which he got another level for Table Manners;

 **Table Manners – Level 2**

 **This ability effects people's opinion of you after they watch you eat, good or bad.**

 **Level 2- Well done. You've surpassed a dog. Now you only eat like a cat. You've moved up in life.**

Gray finally escaped to his room, determined to figure out the rest of his powers.

"Status" he said in a whisper, and waited for the now familiar ping that signaled the status page.

A blue box appeared. Scrolling down the list, Gray looked at the information on him at the bottom of the page, a little disturbed at how accurate it was.

 **Gray Fullbuster is the eight year old child of Mika and Silver Fullbuster. He lives in Isvan, a snow covered country, and wants to get stronger in anyway he can, so he can protect his family.**

For not for the first time, Gray wondered why he had these powers, and who gave them to him.

Shaking of the somber attitude he had found himself in, Gray checked if there was anything he didn't understand on the page. Finding nothing out of the ordinary (at least for him) he was about to close it when he thought back to when he had made his skill, Table Manners and all the other skills he had made.

Why weren't they in the Status page?

After frowning at said page for a few minutes, Gray had an idea.

He tentatively said "Skills" out-loud, remembering how he had had to say Status out-loud for the Status to come up. Suddenly, with a ping another blue box appeared, replacing the status page.

 **Skill(s)**

 **Gamer's Mind- Level Max (passive)**

 **This ability allows you to keep thinking calmly and logically, no matter what. You are immune to psychological effects.**

 **Level Max (passive)- This skill is always on. You would probably win at all poker games.**

 **Gamer's Body- Level Max (passive)**

 **This ability allows your body to live in the real world like a game**

 **Level Max (passive)- This skill is always on. What else can be said about it, honestly.**

 **Table Manners - Level 2**

 **This ability effects people's opinion of you after they watch you eat, good or bad.**

 **Level 2- Well done. You've surpassed a dog. Now you only eat like a cat. You've moved up in life.**

 **Observe- Level 2**

 **By observing a target you will gain information**

 **Level 2- Name, Health, and Mana**

 **Cooking- Level 1**

 **This skill allows you to cook your own food using other ingredients.**

 **Level 1- You have a 5% chance of not messing up your dish. Meaning if you try to cook something for someone to eat, you'll most likely give them food poisoning.**

 **Meditation- Level 1**

 **This skill allows you to increase your MP.**

 **Level 1 – Every 2 hours your mana increases by 5 points.**

 **Gardening- Level 1**

 **This skill allows you to plant and nurture your very own garden**

 **Level 1- You have a 10% chance of not killing everything you plant. Congratulations.**

 **Knife Wielding -Level 1**

 **This skill allows you to wield a knife. Techniques can be added.**

 **Level 1- You have a 5% chance of a critical hit. Have fun trying not to take an eye out.**

 **Pet grooming- Level 1**

 **This skill allows you to groom your own fuzzy friend.**

 **Level 1- You have a 5% chance of it looking ok. Subcategories for different animals can be added. Much pity on your pet.**

Gray focused on the two skills he couldn't remember getting. Gamer's Mind, and Gamer's body. That.. explained a lot. Despite everything that happened, Gray hadn't freaked out once. That must have been Gamer's Mind. As for Gamer's Body, well, he wasn't exactly sure what it meant to 'live real life like a game' but from what he could gather, it was probably that skill that let him learn skills with one click.

Gray grinned. He was one step closer to figuring out how to work these powers. Even though he hasn't completely figured this out, he knew that this system had the capacity to make him strong.

—-—-

A/N Sorry about having to take this down a couple of times. I will try to update every Monday, perhaps more if I'm motivated.


	3. Chapter 3

**The Icy Gamer**

 **Chapter 3:**

The next morning, Gray jolted awake to a insistent ringing sound. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes as he looked at his bedside table, at the Clock Lacrima sitting there with big red numbers.

It was one of the few Lacrima's in the village (as they were expensive and mines for them are few and far between) from his Dad as a seventh birthday present. Clock Lacrima's worked like alarms, to tell the user when to get up for work, or when to school at a specific time.

Gray had used it for a different reason.

The Clock Lacrima flashed 6:00 am, and he jumped out of bed, hastily dismissing the sign that had hovered in front of him since he woke up;

 **HP and MP have been restored to 100%; you have slept in your own bed.**

before rushing to dress and get started on his plan- to practice his skills and level them up.

First thing was cooking, because Table Manners wasn't that important, and he wanted to be able to cook as it was a Life Skill. Gray aimed to recover his former level of cooking, as apparently he would give everyone food poisoning if he tried to cook right now. (Stupid powers…)

As Gray crept down the stairs quietly, trying not to wake his mum up, a ping sounded in his ears, and he blinked.

Already?!

He looked at the blue box.

 **Skill Created!**

 **Sneaking- Level 1**

 **Allows you to sneak up on someone or go somewhere without being seen.**

 **Level 1- You have a 5% chance of not getting caught. You're about as stealthy as a elephant.**

Shaking his head at the frankly terrible percentage, Gray's eyes narrowed in determination. He really needed to level up his skills. This was just embarrassing!

When Gray reached the kitchen (his 5% surprisingly holding out on him) he stared at the utensils and ingredients, observing them until he got another skill level.

 **Observe- Level 3**

 **By observing a target you will gain information**

 **Level 3- Name, Health, Mana and Info.**

Gray swiped his hand through the new Observe Level, and curiously used it on the first thing he saw- a knife.

 **Balanced Kitchen Knife**

 **This is a ordinary kitchen knife, used for cutting food.**

 **Attack- 20**

 **Cost- $10**

Gray hesitated, before quickly shoving it in his pocket (making sure the knife didn't stab him, of course). He'd use it later when he was practicing his skill, Knife Wielding. However, it gave Gray an idea on what to do next.

He'd make breakfast in bed for his mum! (What? She was amazing!) Nodding to himself, he grabbed the recipe book before a ping interrupted him.

 **Quest Alert!**

 **Make the best breakfast in bed ever for your mum!**

 **Rewards-**

 **100 Exp**

 **Your mum being happier**

 **?**

 **Failure-**

 **Having to clean the kitchen of mess**

 **Your mum keeping an eye on you at all times**

 **Accept/Decline**

Gray stared at the quest in surprise. It wasn't what he thought a quest would look like, especially since the failure for the first quest was loss of sanity. Still, he was curious about the question mark in the reward was, and the failure wasn't that bad. He clicked accept, and got to work.

Gray had finally done it. Knocking on his mum's room with his hands full at 9:30am, after seven failed attempts at making pancakes and almost giving up in anger, his stupid cooking skill was good enough for his mum to actually eat something he made. He hoped. The skill now looked like;

 **Cooking- Level 10**

 **This skill allows you to cook your own food using other ingredients.**

 **Level 10 - You have a 50% chance of not messing up your dish.**

 **10% Chance of them enjoying it. You don't suck anymore… much.**

He had also gotten the chance to level up his sneaking, because it turns out that cooking is quite noisy, especially if every 10 minutes you have to start over again and you swear very loudly… not that he did that.

 **Sneaking- Level 3**

 **Allows you to sneak up on someone or go somewhere without being seen.**

 **Level 3- 15% chance of not getting caught. You can be the boss of hide and seek- when your seeking. You still suck.**

Startling Gray out of his thoughts, his mum called out from inside the room "Come in!"

He pushed open the door, and stepped inside the room, smiling.

"Good morning, mum. I made breakfast for you!"

Sitting up in bed, Mika Fullbuster stared at her son. "You did?"

"Yep! Pancakes with strawberries. I was gonna use raspberries but we didn't have any. Sorry."

His mum smiled. "You didn't have to do that, it's not even Mother's Day! Thank you."

Gray laughed nervously. "Try it before you thank me. I'm not sure if it's any good."

Mika smiled warmly."I'm sure its wonderful. Bring it here."

Gray darted over to her side, before carefully placing the tray next to her, and watching intently as she took a bite. Her face was unreadable.

"This is amazing! I didn't know you could cook this well Gray."

Ping!

 **New Title!**

 **Mama's boy**

 **Plus 3 to Wis and Dex and plus 10 to luck when in your Mum's presence.**

 **Quest Complete!**

 **Make the best breakfast in bed ever for your mum!**

 **Rewards-**

 **100 Exp**

 **Your mum being happier**

 **New title**

He equipped the stupid (quite useful) title with the bad name, and he promised to himself that he would never, ever, ever tell anyone at all about it.

After Gray had managed to get away from his mum, who insisted she wanted cuddles after the 'amazing meal' he had made for her, he found himself standing in the back garden alone in the snow, near the forest.

Their house was on the outskirts of the village, so it had its back to the forest. In fact, the forest was the reason the village was so remote. There was only one entrance and exit, the rest of the town was surrounded by it. Everyone collected their wood for fires there, but it also had savage beasts that warned a person not to stay to long, which was what the Town Guard was for.

Gray had the knife in his pocket (it was surprising that his mum hadn't found it, it was a mistake on his part to not take it out before), so he reached inside his shorts to pull it out, only for his hand to meet empty air.

What?!

Gray knew the knife hadn't fallen out, he couldn't of missed that, as the knife was fairly big.

So why wasn't it there?

He looked inside his other pocket to see if it was there. Nope.

Frowning, Gray considered this new enigma. Whenever something strange had happened in the past, it was connected to his powers, so maybe this was too?

But why would his powers take something from his pocket?!

Argh!

Gray scowled. Just when he thought he had his powers figured out!

Still… Perhaps he could experiment with this? It might not even be his powers! Gray looked around, and saw a smooth stone on the ground. Bending down to grab it, he put it in his pocket. And waited. After a minute of staring intently at the pocket, he put his hand into it to get the stone.

Nothing.

This was definitely related to his powers. Just to be sure, he grabbed a leaf off a near by tree and put it in his other pocket, before immediately checking it, the answer not surprising to him. It wasn't there.

Were was the stuff going?

Suddenly a thought hit him. If his powers could make blue boxes appear and give him private information about random people… why couldn't it give him a storage place? That could be were all the stuff was going!

Smiling confidently, Gray said "Storage."

And waited. No blue box appeared. Maybe he used the wrong word or something?

Gray frowned. What was another word for storage?

"Stock pile" Nothing.

"Cache" Nada

"Arsenal" Zilch. (That one was a shame because it sounded really cool, like something his dad would use)

Gray sighed, almost giving up. He had made a list of words that could mean storage, and he was onto the last one.

"Inventory."

Suddenly, out of nowhere (like usual) a box appeared. At the top it said inventory and down below the word was a bunch of boxes.

In the first three boxes, a knife, stone and leaf appeared.

So the pockets were connected to the inventory!

Gray reached out one hand and slowly reached towards the floating knife, unsure if he was doing the right thing. As he touched the box, his hand got sucked into it, before rapping around the hilt of the knife.

It felt like Gray was putting his hand through jelly, but he quickly drew his hand back with the knife. Examining it, (as well as observing it for good measure) he deemed it exactly to be the same knife as before.

Looking at the remaining items in his inventory (they looked kinda sad) Gray decided to test it. Gathering as many sticks, leaves, stones as he could, with one unlucky lizard and some snow off the ground as well. He slowly put them into the inventory, only to discover that the same types of things could be in the same box at once.

That was interesting to know, but it didn't really help him find out how much he could put in it. Abandoning that mission for now, he pulled out the lizard, feeling bad for it. However, he had kept an eye on it's box the whole time, and it never moved. Maybe because it couldn't?

Then, Gray took out the snow, which should of melted into slop. Instead, it was just as frozen as when he put it in. Perhaps… time stood still in the inventory? That would explain why the lizard never moved and the snow didn't melt… Just because, he left a green leaf in the inventory to investigate. In a month or so, when most leaves should be brown, he would take it out to see.

Trying one more thing with it, Gray dismissed the inventory box (with it cleared of everything except the knife and leaf) and put his hand in his pocket.

"Knife"

Silence. He groaned. Wait.

"Balanced Kitchen Knife"

Feeling the hard hilt of the knife in his hand once more, Gray grinned, then frowned. Letting the knife go back in the pocket, he took his hand out and held it in front of him.

"Balanced Kitchen Knife"

The sharp blade appeared in his hands.

The pockets, then was an easy access to the inventory, though he supposed he couldn't fit very big objects in them. The inventory page could fit big objects in it, but around other people it would look very suspicious.

Still, the inventory would be very useful in the future.

After Gray was done messing around with his inventory, he grabbed the knife, ready to start practicing… Only to realise a minor snag in the plan. He had nothing to practice on, and nobody to practice against. He couldn't exactly ask his dad to teach him how to use a knife!

…

Or maybe he could? Gray could claim he was interested, and wanted to learn how to defend himself. His dad was good at that sort of stuff, and he would believe it right away. Still, there was always his mum, who would probably protest at Gray being near 'sharp objects', as well as his dad who was rarely home.

Gray sighed, before slipping his knife into his pocket (then quickly checking the pocket because it was still cool).

"No knife wielding today, I guess."

—

A/N Updates every Monday, more if im motivated. And does any one know how Jewels work?


	4. Chapter 4

**The Icy Gamer**

 **Chapter 4:**

After his failed attempted at learning how to use his Knife Wielding skill, Gray had focused on something else. Namely, his stats. He opened his status page;

 **Gray Fullbuster**

 **Level- 3 Exp 310/500**

 **Title- Mama's Boy**

 **Health- 150/150**

 **Mana - 100/100**

 **Str- 5**

 **Vit- 4**

 **Dex-3**

 **Int-7**

 **Wis-4**

 **Luc-2**

 **Points- 0**

 **Jewels-0**

 **Gray Fullbuster is the eight year old child of Mika and Silver Fullbuster. He lives in Isvan, a snow covered country, and wants to get stronger in any way he can, so he can protect his family.**

Gray focused on the words near the bottom of his statistics – stats. Strength was five, his second highest stat, and it sounded easy to improve, but how? The normal way was to lift weights or something, so…

Gray looked around for something heavy to lift.

A massive stone, with jagged edges which would make it easy to grip was quite close to him, and he grinned. Bounding over to it, Gray had to lean forwards in an awkward position (it was almost the size of him) before he strained to get it off the ground.

Nothing happened, in terms of pings or movement from the rock.

Gray frowned, then narrowed his eyes in determination. He would lift this rock!

Five backbreaking minutes later, the boulder was still on the ground. Suddenly, Gray heard a ping, and straightened up in quickly in excitement, his back protesting at the sudden movement.

 **For trying to lift a rock 3 times your body weight, you gain the ailment, minor back pain. You idiot. Oh, fine. But only because you'd complain otherwise. Plus one Str as well.**

 **Health- 140/150**

He was glad nobody but him could see the messages.

There was a tree branch that had fallen off that didn't look too heavy, right behind the tree line, so Gray left the boulder (ignoring his back pain, he'd only lost ten health points) and headed over to it.

As soon as his feet hit the foliage of the forest, however, a ping resounded in his ear and he blinked.

 **You have entered Ice Wolves Forest Dungeon-Level 2**

 **Do you wish to continue?**

 **Yes/No**

Gray stared at the words hovering in the air, his mind racing. Ice wolves were native in the forest surrounding the village, and most people were afraid of them, as they grew up to a grown man's chest and killed the towns folk who had wondered too far into the forest, but what did Level 2 dungeon mean?

It was a scary word, dungeon. Not to mention Ice Wolves.

But he was level 3, so he should be able to take it, right? His curiosity getting the better of him, Gray raised his hand to press yes, before suddenly stopping. Although he was out of view of his mother, she would most likely freak out if he suddenly disappeared for two hours (he had the feeling that this dungeon thing would take a while) so Gray sadly hit no, and the screen disappeared.

Then again, nothing was stopping him from going in later, without the watchful gaze of his mother…

 **Quest Alert!**

 **Sneak out and enter the Ice Wolves dungeon at night. Don't get caught or die.**

 **Rewards-**

 **100 Exp**

 **?**

 **Failure-**

 **Death (duh)**

Gray looked at the quest, his resolve strengthening. He would venture into the dungeon later, at night, when his mum wouldn't know to worry. For now though… he hit _No_ on the dungeon, and continued onto his original goal.

Pressing forwards to grab the snow covered log, Gray was pleased to see that he could actually move it, albeit slowly (unlike the boulder) and dragged it, puffing to where he had originally stood.

Breathing out, Gray stared at the branch before crouching down to wrap his hands around it, tensing his muscles in preparation as he strained to lift it up. To his surprise, he could do it, though progress was slow as it was hard to get it higher than his knees

Pushing all of his strength into getting the branch higher, next to his waist Gray managed to hold that position for almost 20 seconds before his strength ran out suddenly and he dropped the branch.

Right. On. His. Foot.

Ping!

Gray ignored the boxes that had popped up in front of him, to busy hopping around on one foot to care about the notifications. After he had suitably examined his hurt foot, he finally turned towards the first box.

 **For holding a heavy stick for a while, you get one Str.**

Smiling in accomplishment, Gray turned towards the other box in the air, wondering what it was for.

 **Skill Created!**

 **Physical Endurance-Level 1**

 **This skill allows you to increase your durability and take less damage. So if you get hurt really badly, at least you'll get SOMETHING out of it.**

 **Level 1- You still pretty much have the skin of a newborn. Soft, squishy and easy to bruise.**

That… was a really weird skill, though it sounded awesome if he could level it up so he could have his skin as hard as rocks, without, you know…dying in the process.

As he waved his hand through the box, his mum appeared with suspiciously good timing, as always.

"It's about time to head in for dinner" she surveyed his attire, and frowned.

"I'm not really sure what you were doing out here, but tidy up. You completely ruined your shirt."

Gray opened his mouth to protest that his shirt was fine and not ruined at all, and that was a completely unfair statement on her part, when he looked down and abruptly stopped all thoughts of arguing.

She was right. Apparently his shirt didn't like that he picked up a dirty, snow covered tree branch, and so decided to rebel by picking up all of the dirt on said branch, effectively making the shirt unwearable (though Gray was sure it could be washed out and thus wasn't ruined-but hey.)

Meekly nodding in agreement to his mothers words, Gray headed back up to his room with one last look at the dense forest behind him, not forgetting his resolve to sneak out later that night and satisfy his curiosity.

After dinner, which had involved a subtle interrogation by his mum (subtle by her standards, not his) which he stopped by giving his mother reassurance that he wasn't doing drugs (how did she get that from a dirty shirt?! Maybe it was a mum thing?) Gray retreated to his room while waiting for his mother to go to sleep, and promptly played around with his inventory, experimenting with how many things it could hold.

If it had a limit, he hadn't found it yet.

Sometime after 10, the light from his mum's room turned off. Waiting an extra 15 minutes just in case, Gray slowly stood up and dressed in all black clothes for blending in. Touching the knife he had summoned from his inventory to reassure himself, he opened his door quietly.

Sneaking through the house in the dark was… easier than expected.

The real challenge was locating the key rack in dark, but after bumping into a few things, (he was glad his mum was a heavy sleeper and almost impossible to wake up) he found it, and located the key to the front door before finally stepping outside.

Gray jogged in the cold night air to the tree line, before slowly stepping over it. A ping sounded in the air.

 **You have entered Ice Wolves Forest Dungeon-Level 2**

 **Do you wish to continue?**

 **Yes/No**

Gray clicked _yes_ , and suddenly there was a clearing in front of him. He walked forward cautiously, looking around at the so called dungeon.

It was full of snow and pine trees surrounded it on all sides, like an impenetrable wall. At the very end of the clearing there was a menacing cave protruding out of the ground.

Guarding the entrance to it were three wolves, taller than him with sharp teeth and claws.

Ice wolves.

And they were staring right at him with bloodlust in their eyes.

One of the wolves broke away from the triangle formation and made it's way towards him slowly, growling all the while.

Gray felt a flash of fear as he suddenly found himself face to face with the massive wolf, with only a metre separating it from him. He shakily took a step back, all thoughts off fighting gone from his mind, but the movement proved to be a mistake and the wolf pounced.

Before Gray could even think about defending himself, the wolf sank it's teeth in his arm, then threw him into a near by tree. A bar in the corner of his vision (that wasn't there before…) proclaimed his health.

 **Health- 100/150**

That one attack had reduced his health by 50. However, despite the crippling fear Gray had felt just moments before, a sudden calm came over him, and he could think. Looking at the wolf, who was lazily approaching like it had already won, Gray used Observe on it, hoping to find a weakness.

 **Ice Wolf**

 **Level- 2**

 **Health- 100/100**

 **Mana – 0/0**

 **Str- 20**

 **Vit- 2**

 **Dex-3**

 **Int-4**

 **Wis-2**

 **Luc-5**

 **This is a low ranking (in terms of the pack) Ice Wolf. It is much bigger than normal wolves, its pelt is almost impenetrable, and it has a lot of strength. However, it's dumb and not very fast.**

 **Kill to gain- 50 Exp**

Gray breathed out as he quickly skimmed the info, his eyes darting to the information at the bottom. Pulling his knife out of his inventory, he looked at the tree he'd been thrown at, trying to decided if he had enough time to climb it and get the higher ground before the wolf got to him.

He decided against it. While the wolf was going slowly, it wasn't going _that_ slowly. And he knew it's weakness now. As long as the other wolves didn't try to attack him (and they looked completely comfortable just watching), he'd be fine. He could do this.

Maybe.

The wolf suddenly lunged at him, teeth snapping, and Gray dropped to the ground and allowed it to bite the tree. He stabbed at the wolf's leg at a place where he somehow knew would slow it down. Even though it was already quite slow, he wasn't taking any chances. He looked at its health bar.

 **Ice wolf**

 **70/100**

He was a bit surprised at how much damaged that had caused, but he had other priorities as the wolf howled and tried to head butt him. Unfortunately for it, Gray had already moved behind it, lunging with his knife at the unprotected back of the wolf, vaguely wondering why he had thought a kitchen knife was an appropriate weapon.

However, the blow was insignificant, as Gray had forgotten about the 'almost impenetrable pelt'. This mistake allowed the wolf to get the upper hand, and it scrapped its paws across his chest bringing his health down, though not as much as the first attack.

 **Health- 80/150**

Recovering after being pushed back by it's attack, Gray dodged the next few charges, using his speed to his advantage as he tried to find a weak spot that he could exploit. As he ducked from the wolf's sharp teeth and gleaming eyes, he had an idea.

Waiting until the wolf leaped forward to try and eat him, Gray instead of dodging, spun to the side and, with all his strength slammed the knife into its eye, though he was unable to pull it out again, leaving him weaponless.

Harshly breathing out, Gray looked at the wolf's health bar.

 **Ice wolf**

 **10/100**

What was he supposed to do now!?

Gray prepared himself to run for his life, when he realised the wolf hadn't moved since he had struck it. Looking up at the bloody eye with a knife sticking out of it, he felt kind of sorry for it, until he remembered all the wounds he had gotten from it.

Not wasting the opportunity to get his knife back, Gray jumped up and tugged on it, pulling it free and readying himself for when the wolf would pull itself out of it's shocked state.

However, as soon as the knife was pulled out, the wolf's health bar dropped to zero, and it turned into golden dust, with some items on the ground where it had been.

Before Gray could investigate though, a low growl hit his ears and he turned, his eyes widening than narrowing in resolve as the next wolf stepped up. Glancing at his health,

 **Health-100/150**

Which had recovered somewhat, Gray readied his knife. He could do this.

—

A/N Updates every Monday. Sorry that this was a bit late.


	5. Chapter 5

**The Icy Gamer**

 **Chapter 5:**

The first of the two remaining wolves rushed at him, and Gray quickly threw himself to the side, studying it. It was smaller than the other wolf, and as he looked at it's health bar he was surprised to see a smaller health, at

 **Health- 80/80**

Despite the difference in the health bars, however, Gray soon realised that the new wolf was nothing to be sneezed at. Because if it's smaller frame and slimmer coat, it was much faster than the first wolf (which Gray suspected was male as opposed to the female wolf attacking him now), though thankfully not as strong.

Gray backed up as the wolf lunged at him, growling. It had yet to land a hit on him, that was probably because of their size differences more than anything.

Still, the wolf was gaining on him every time he ducked and evaded her teeth and claws a second to late, so Gray decided to move into action and attack it.

Trying to avoid its tragically sharp teeth (Gray wondered how many people it had killed over the years, and then decided to stop thinking about that before he gave himself nightmares), Gray dived underneath the wolf, like he had previously done with the last Ice Wolf

-If it wasn't broke why fix it?-

and stabbed the softer (he hoped) coat underneath,

He then scrambled away, but not before taking a bit of damaged from the wolf's claws.

The wolf's health now looked like this,

 **Ice Wolf**

 **60/80**

And his health

 **Health- 90/150**

Gray wasn't going to gloat that he took more of its health than it took his.

Nope.

(He totally was, although the prospect was a bit disheartening when he realised there was no one he could gloat to. Still.)

Anyway, back to the battle.

The wolf still had 60 health points to take care of, and as he ran away from the beast like a lunatic, Gray got an idea.

An incredibly stupid idea that was sure to get him grounded for all eternity if his parents ever found out, but an idea none the less.

"Do you know how hard it is to look at you?! Ugly idiot! I bet even your friend can't stand to sit next to you cause the sight of you is so horrible. What am I saying? You probably don't have any friends!"

Yes, Gray was painfully aware that his smack talk was horrible, and if the game made fun of him for it, he will accept the humiliation (not that anyone else could see it) gracefully. It even made him cringe, and it came out of his mouth.

Still, the wolf swiped it's claws at him and growled, and Gray hoped that meant it worked.

(Gray thanked his lucky stars that the Ice Wolf seemed to understand what he was saying. He felt stupid for not realising the major flaw in his plan earlier, but what could you do?)

The Wolf snarled aggressively and raised its legs to claw him, opening its mouth to show that is was full of sharp teeth that he did not want to be on the other end off, and Gray lunged.

Using the wolf's momentarily off balance from its pass with its claws, Gray darted forward and body slammed the wolf, putting all his weight into it before quickly shoving his knife and hand into its mouth.

The knife's blade went through the roof of the wolves mouth, and with a whimper, the wolf lost its remaining health, following it's pack member and turning into dust, but not before managing to bite off some of Gray's health, leaving him with

 **Health-60/150**

To face the last wolf.

However, luckily the last Ice Wolf wasn't as difficult as the first wolves, although still no joke, and Gray, thankfully sustained less damage defeating it, which he put done to his experiences with their weak spots and some strategies that he knew would work. His health now looked like

 **Health- 40/150**

Which, although a little on the low side was still fine. Especially from his first battle (dungeon?). Breathing heavily from his last fight, Gray looked at the boxes with notifications all around him that he had ignored due to the fighting. To his surprise and joy, there were quite a few.

 **Skill Levelled Up!**

 **Physical Endurance- Level 2**

 **This skill allows you to increase your durability and take less damage. So if you get hurt really badly, at least you'll get SOMETHING out of it.**

 **Level 2- You take 5% less physical damage from any attack. A stone could hurt you.**

Gray blinked, then smiled. This was an unexpected bonus.

 **Skill Created!**

 **Critical Hit- Level 1**

 **A deadly strike that can cause 200% damage to your enemies, another 100% is added if you strike a pressure point or vital organ.**

 **Level 1- Chance of it working- Luc+Dex (2+3=5%)**

That sounded very usual in the future, and he was very satisfied. It could make what was a fairly inconsequential hit into a devastating blow.

 **Skill Levelled Up!**

 **Knife Wielding -Level 2**

 **This skill allows you to wield a knife. Techniques can be added.**

 **Level 2- You have an 8% chance of a critical hit. So you're basically an accident waiting to happen.**

Gray smiled. He finally got to practice his knife wielding skill! Gray turned to the final blue box.

 **Skill Created!**

 **Taunt- Level 1**

 **You can cause an enemy to lose their composer and do something dumb.**

 **Level 1- You have a 5% chance of it working. It's a good day when your opponents do something stupid, though your taunts are so bad that they are more likely to make your enemy laugh.**

And there it was. The game had, all things considering, let him off a bit easier with the sassy comments, but jokes on

(them, it? He probably should at least try to find out where the power was coming from, why he got it and who gave it to him, and although Gray had considered the idea it was his own form of magic, it didn't match what he already knew about magic, which, admittedly, wasn't much.)

the game, Gray decided on, he already knew he was horrible at insulting people.

Despite the games sense of humour, Gray was very happy at the new skills and the ones that improved. He could already tell they were going to help him a lot over time, and even against the wolves he knew were in the cave nearby.

Dismissing both boxes, he looked at his health bar, which was still at the corner of his vision (maybe because he was still in dangerous territory?). He was slowly regenerating his health, and was already at,

 **Health- 100/150**

He felt sure that in a few minutes, it would be at full health. But what to do next? Should he go into the cave full of enemies, and risk not completing the quest, or go home before he was noticed to be missing and recover from what fighting he did today?

Turning to stare at the ominous cave, Gray hesitated before walking towards the exit. He didn't want to push his luck, and he had a feeling that the cave was home to wolves, perhaps much more powerful than the one he fought.

However, as soon as he started walking he tripped over an object on the ground. Scowling in annoyance (and embarrassment at being so clumsy) he picked up the object, surprised to find out that it was fabric.

Still staring at it, Gray used Observe.

 **Ice Wolf Fur Jacket**

 **A jacket made of Ice Wolf fur that can be used as Armor and can protect the user from most physical attacks, although it is susceptible to magic. Not a lot can break this up!**

 **Durability- 10/10**

 **Cost- $50**

Gray full on laughed from the new item that he got. It would be very useful in the future, especially with wolf bites. He vaguely remembered some items that had appeared with the golden dust when he had defeated the Ice Wolves, so maybe they were stuff he got from defeating the wolves?

After putting the Jacket away (he'd wear after he came up with an excuse for his mum about where he got it) he looked around in the gold dust littering the floor. He found an Ice Wolf fang, which he was totally going to see if he could make a necklace out of, and 5 Jewels, which was by far the most important discovery he made today.

Real life money could be made by fighting monsters?!

(Once he got a bit stronger, Gray was going to abuse that system so much…)

Putting everything that the wolves had dropped in his inventory for later use, Gray moved to the exit of the Dungeon, and clicked yes at the floating box that had appeared asking him if he wanted to leave.

Since the night was getting lighter, Gray hurried back to his room, his increased vision letting him navigate the house more easily than at night.

After seeking refuge in his bed, Gray came to a startling realization. He wasn't the slightest bit tired, despite having been awake the whole night.

Perhaps a side effect from the adrenaline after fighting those wolves?

But no. Any adrenaline would have worn off much sooner. Which made Gray suspect the game. After all, he did get the Gamer's Mind Skill, which made him immune to physiological effects...

A familiar ping startled him, and Gray looked up at the floating box, startled out of his thoughts.

 **Quest Complete! (Barely… You didn't even go into the cave!)**

 **Sneak out and enter the Ice Wolves dungeon at night. Don't get caught or die.**

 **Rewards-**

 **100 Exp**

 **Ice Wolf Fur Jacket**

He grinned. The non-specific wording of the quest must of meant that he could "complete" the quest without completing the whole dungeon. Suddenly, another ping interrupted him, and he blinked at the box that was in front of him, similar in looks to the last one except for one thing.

It was gold.

The boxes had never been gold before. What was going on?

He read it.

 **You have Leveled Up!**

 **\+ St** **at points**

 **\+ 5** **0 HP**

 **\+ 2** **5 MP**

And his eyes widened. Gray quickly pulled up his status page, which had changed quite a bit since he had last seen it.

 **Gray Fullbuster**

 **Level- 4 Exp 60/1000**

 **Title- Mama's Boy**

 **Health- 200/200**

 **Mana - 125/125**

 **Str- 7**

 **Vit- 4**

 **Dex-3 (+3) = 6**

 **Int-7**

 **Wis-4 (+3) = 7**

 **Luc-2**

 **Points- 5**

 **Jewels- $5**

 **Gray Fullbuster is the eight year old child of Mika and Silver Fullbuster. He lives in Isvan, a snow-covered country, and wants to get stronger in any way he can, so he can protect his family.**

That's what the EXP did! It leveled you up. And the more levels you get, the more powerful you will become. Gray grinned in triumph at finally figuring this out, and continued to look over the changes.

He noticed that the money he got from the wolves had gone to the Jewels section of the status page, which must be helpful when you wanted to quickly check how much money you had.

Another ping soon interrupted his slacked jaw awe and he quickly turned to the new box that had materialized, this one blue not gold.

The pings were getting very annoying, especially if he was going to have to live his whole life with it.

Perhaps he could mute it?

A problem for another time, Gray decided, as he turned towards the notification, which to his surprise wasn't a quest or anything like that. It was quite ... unique.

 **Now that you've got the hang of the system, the point assigner will come into play. It was already somewhat in play when you tried to gain strength points by lifting heavy things, however this is now not limited to physical actions.**

 **The point assigner will happen when you, for example, have come up with a loophole. Because of how you needed to use your brain to work out the loophole, you will be awarded a point in INT. And so on with the other stats. Have fun and try not to die!**

Gray started at the words. So if he did anything particularly clever it would reward him? Or wise? Count him in!

(Although he did wonder why it had just been added now. He's pretty sure he would have earned a point when he figured out what each stat did…Perhaps the game wanted assurance he would survive or something? Or even just to make a level up worth the effort?

Oh well. No use worrying about it now.)

Looking out the window, Gray saw that the sun was now almost all the way up in the sky, and that his mum would soon be coming to wake him up, and sighed.

Gray supposed he might as well make his mum's day when she came in and he was already ready to go.

* * *

A/N I'm back! I'm so sorry for the wait. I promised myself that I wouldn't give this story up, and I'll try not to. I started this as a writing practice, as the gamer au seemed like an interesting concept and I wanted to see how I could develop it, as well as practice my dialogue, which I've noticed is kind of stilted. (Although most of this chapter is inner monologue, which is sad.)

Thank you to everyone who read and reviewed during the long wait, and I'll try and have the next chapter up a bit quicker. There will be a timeskip now that Gray has finally figured out most functions of the game, so look forward to that. Also, throw my previous, it will be up on Monday, out of the water. I was hopelessly naïve, and life got in the way of that plan. I'm not planning on stopping this story, I promise!


End file.
